Spice of Life

For the second year, Dan and I made hot sauce to give as holiday gifts, in what we plan to be annual tradition. We call it Jackson Street Juice—a nod to the street we live on, where our front yard is filled with garden beds. Our nontraditional yard proves to be a friendly conversation starter with onlooking neighbors and produces a season’s growth of fruits and vegetables which we enjoy year-round.

The naturally fermented sauce contains five types of homegrown chili peppers, including the rare rocoto, along with garlic. Dan lovingly tends to the sauce, adding to the crock as the peppers become ripe in the garden. Once fermentation has been completed, final prep includes mashing, straining, bottling and adhering the custom labels I created.

This year, we also created a Jackson Street Jelly since our pepper crop was so plentiful. In addition to the chili peppers, we added raspberry and carrot (also homegrown) to balance out the heat. From the positive reviews that have come in, we’ve decided it’s a keeper. Really tasty on toasted bread coupled with feta!

This project is a fun way to combine my loves of gardening, cooking (I like it hot!) and design. Always enjoyable to create alongside Dan, and then share the fruits of our labors.